Ohio, Nation Less Religulous

Ohio, Nation Less Religulous

Atheists, Humanists No Longer Fear Their Secular Orientation

by John Michael Spinelli

April 27, 2009

COLUMBUS, OHIO: As the high tide of Republican control of government in Ohio and the nation recedes from the sea change made possible by the onset of the Reagan Revolution of the 1980s, is the related retreat of religion among Americans being filled in part by atheists who no longer fear proclaiming their secular orientation?

The American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS ), performed in 2008 by investigators at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn, shows Americans are "slowly becoming less Christian," not because the dominant religious sect in America is being threatened by other world religions but from a general "rejection of all organized religions."

Whether "Religulous," the documentary spoof released in 2008 about the absurdity of religion in general and the sheer goofiness of some true believers in particular, was a factor in the ARIS survey can only be attributed to either divine intervention sheer speculation. But such a movie would have been impossible to produce or show in public in decades past and would have been difficult to distribute just a few years ago. The times are indeed a changing

Other celebrity atheists like Christopher Hitchens , who believes religion poisons everything, or Richard Dawkins , who said he is against religion "because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world," have helped lead the charge out of the pew and into the public square, where others of their ilk will gather to brandish their status as non-believers.

Principal ARIS investigators Barry A. Kosmin and Ariela Keysar, who conducted this third landmark series of large, nationally representative surveys that track changes in the religious loyalties of the U.S. adult population within the 48 contiguous states from 1990 to 2008 and that collected answers from over 54 thousand participants, said people who identified themselves as not being affiliated with any religious group grew by almost 20 million adults since 1990, or a rise from 8.2 to 15 percent of the total population.

More worrisome for traditional believers in "The Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost," or as Bill Maher, the force behind Religulous, calls them, "people who believe in talking snakes." is that that figure rises to nearly 20 percent, or one in five adults, if those surveyed who didn't know their religious identification (0.9) or who refused to answer their key question (4.1) is included in the "None" category.

In a related story about the coming out party many atheists who once kept silent on the topic of religion for fear of being socially ostracized or hurt professionally are experiencing, Laurie Goodstein, of the New York Times , writes that the new-found bravery by a growing number of non-believers to proclaim their secular, humanist leanings is refreshing and beckons others to do the same.

More than ever, Goodstein says, America’s atheists are "linking up -- on the Internet, in bars, advertising on billboards and buses and in other ways" -- and speaking out in the same way gay-rights advocates have done for decades in their plight to gain legal and social legitimacy.

One reason atheists have become bolder of late to stand up and be counted, is reaction and fallout to eight years of the George W. Bush administration who overtly embraced and invited the religious right -- who in recent years were strong enough to nominate and elect public officials at all levels of government -- to participate and share in the re-creation of government in their image.

And while an avowed atheist probably still has little chance of being elected to any office let alone a national one, the days of cowering in a closet are over. Atheists as a group still rank lower than any other minority or religious group, according to ARIS. But their gains, exemplified by a once unthinkable advertising campaign that says "Don't Believe in God? You Are Not Alone," may affect the coming war between Republicans, who believe staunchly in Jesus but who show little sympathy for helping individuals who are treated unkindly by fate and circumstance, and Democrats, who are seen by more young people especially as more socially conscious and sympathetic to the plight of those less fortunate.

In Ohio, where the Christian right has had a major impact on state laws, from the regulation of adult entertainment businesses to passing a statewide amendment to the Constitution in 2004 that banned gay marriage , the resurgence of Democrats in the guise of a new governor and a new majority in the Ohio House of Representatives may bode ill for Republicans who find themselves on the defensive as the human wreckage of job losses resulting from a dystopian economy many blame them for piles up below executives and general assemblies who are being thrashed for not budgeting for their needs.

In their statistics on states, ARIS investigators show Ohio's "Nones" category more than doubled, from 8 to 17 percent, between 1990 and 2008. Similar gains by atheists were seen in Ohio's neighbors, Illinois (13), Indiana (15), Michigan (16) and Wisconsin (15).

Among the surveys highlights are that 76 percent of American adults identify as Christians, down 10 points from 1990 and that 34 percent considered themselves in 2008 to be "Born Again or Evangelical Christians." Catholics declined in New England states and in New York but rose in California and Texas where Hispanics are on the rise.

ARIS said that based on their stated beliefs rather than their religious identification in 2008, 70 percent of Americans believe in a personal God, while about 12 percent are atheists (no God) or agnostic (unknowable or unsure), and another 12 percent are deistic (a higher power but no personal God).

ARIS broke out 31 categories of religious traditions from Catholic to Baptist to Pentecostal, to Buddhist, Muslim or Jehovah's Witness. There was no category for "Born Again Pagans" or "The Church of Dark Energy," two traditions I hope to lead one day.

John Michael Spinelli is a Certified Economic Development Financing Professional, business and travel writer and former credentialed Ohio Statehouse political reporter. He is registered to lobby in Ohio and is the Director of Ohio Operations for Tubular Rail Inc. To send a tip or comment, email ohionewsbureau@gmail.com

Ohio Chugs Forward on Billion Dollar Train Museum Plan

Ohio Chugs Forward on Billion Dollar Train Museum Plan

State Rail Planners Silent on Future Costs

Should All Taxpayers or Just 3-C Corridor Cities Subsidize Slow Train Plan?
by John Michael Spinelli

April 20, 2009

COLUMBUS, OHIO: During a visit last week to Detroit, where Ohio Governor Ted Strickland heard in first person from executives of General Motors that its Chevrolet Cruze will be built at Lordstown in northeast Ohio near Cleveland, he took a spin in two new advanced technology vehicles. One was an electric-powered truck cab made by GM, which is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, and one was a new fuel efficient engine produced by Ford, whose financial health is far better than either GM or Chrysler, who soon may also be seeking last rights. Together, about 250 thousand Ohio jobs are tied to Detroit's Big Three automakers.

Governor Strickland, a first-term governor gearing up for re-election in 2010, was no doubt impressed with the advancements in car and truck technology embodied in the new-century vehicles he drove.

A DECADE AND A BILLION DOLLARS TO BUILD A TRAIN MUSEUM

But as the first Democratic governor in 16 years of a state hard hit by the loss of 150 thousand or more manufacturing jobs this decade alone, and that was among the only three states not to recover from the recession of 2001 and whose official unemployment rate last week reached 9.7 percent , the highest in 25 years, why would the good governor push a billion dollar plan to reestablish train-museum era locomotives that won't be pulling out of any railroad stations for years to come, and that when they do, will only average 57-mph, a speed so slow that it'll be a state-sized equivalent of the kind of kiddie train that runs in circles around zoos?

With a transportation department (ODOT) that has soaked up billions of tax dollars every two years for decades, why would Strickland be so ill informed about advancements in train technology that he should be interested instead to clinging to 100-year old slow, costly trains?

Is he misinformed because ODOT'S new duo of co-deputy directors don't know anything about railroads or train technology? Maybe he's being sidetracked by a director that while she once administered the Federal Railroad Administration and is credited for improving Amtrak's customer service , is not an engineer by training and has never run a railroad? One simple explanation is that the Ohio Rail Development Commission, which has been tinkering for decades with patch-ups of a quilt of shrinking freight rail tracks, has its engine up its caboose, despite having studied the matter ever since the last passenger train that crossed the state diagonally stopped running 41 years ago. A second simple reason for misinforming Gov. Strickland is to keep under wraps the real costs of the system. When real bids come, they will likely trigger a ferocious backlash of opposition from taxpayers who are their jobs, lives and futures with each passing day and will not be in any mood to financially fuel a debt train to the past just so a few people can ride them.

THE REALITY OF REAL RAIL COSTS

As a refresher course on real rail costs you won't hear from either ORDC or the media, digest these numbers before rushing where angels fear to tread: High-speed rai (HSR)l - $40 to $80M/mile - (German [maglev] - $77M/mile); Commuter rail (Existent track) - $24 million/mile; Urban light rail - $30 to $60 million/mile - (Houston - $37 M/mi). When an ORDC spokesman was asked by one reporter whether faster trains would require new tracks that cost considerably more, despite years of time and millions spent on consults to study the issue, he could "not give an estimate" to the question. Being silent on future costs is always a bad sign. It should be a big red flag for Strickland, lawmakers and Ohio taxpayers that danger lies ahead. Floridians have already recoiled from the sour news about the real costs of real HSR and California, which barely passed a nearly $10 billion bond plan that will only cover one-quarter of the system envisioned by its HSR authority, may find a new ballot issue that reverses the vote in November.

What ever the reasons are behind Strickland going down the wrong track at a time when President Barack Obama is doing a 180 degree turnaround from President Bush on restoring passenger trains to Ohio by budgeting $8 billion now and $5 billion more over five years, he should be as excited about learning about other advanced train technology as he was tooling around in new vehicle products from GM or Ford.

NOT ALL MEDIA LAZY ON HSR

Part of the problem is the utter failure of the media to report on views other than what government spokespeople, paid to defend the status quo, are saying about upgrading freight rail tracks to one day accommodate high-speed trains. The "news" in newspaper seems unimportant to many reporters who regurgitate government talking points on HSR no matter how lame or lacking in solid evidence they are.

Case in point, The Columbus Dispatch ran yet another article on Ohio's misguided effort to spend a billion plus dollars on pushing a slow train to the past. ODOT spokesman Scott Varner went unchallenged by the reporter when he declared upgrading old freight rail tracks will lead to HSR. "That's how you get to these higher speeds -- you start with conventional speed," Varner, who should know better, said.

Varner's statement is just false. But lazy media types who refuse to include opposing views do a big disservice to their readers, who are as well intentioned as Ohio's good governor but as in the dark as he is about the potential for new-century transportation technology that is faster, greener, less costly and less disruptive to the environment than freight-rail trains or even Euro-style trains that travel at speeds exceeding 200-mph or more.

But some reporters do understand the dynamics of HSR as envisioned by Obama. They know it is woefully underfunded -- a national system could exceed $1 trillion -- and that, as proposed, will never allow really fast trains to run on really slow tracks, which by the way are way beyond capacity for existing freight rail traffic that is expected to increase.

Mark Stencel, a Congressional Quarterly columnist , made it clear in this piece. An editorial in The Oregonian said what other reporters refuse to say, which is conflating the U.S. and European standards for high speed rail is like "calling dial-up Internet service 'high-speed' and therefore fast enough." Investors Business Daily editorialized that federal funding is a fraction of what is needed to properly build out a separate, dedication track system for high-speed trains. It also said "People are likelier to ask the tough questions about cost-effectiveness when they know the costs are being paid straight from their pockets," a call to fund it by increased gas taxes, as is done in Europe and elsewhere, or by cities who stand to benefit from rail traffic, like Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus and Cleveland in the case of Ohio.

CLINGING TO OLD TRANSPORTATION TECHNOLOGY NOT SMART

Robert Pulliam, inventor and founder of Tubular Rail , an advanced train technology company based in Texas, said government officials should spend more time "stretching the dollar rather than the truth." Pulliam's Tubular Rail, while yet "unproven technology," showcases what leaders like Strickland and others should be be opting for as a way to bring needed jobs and economic development to his state, which is gasping for help in these areas.

Walt Brewer, writing in the Voice of San Diego, offers sound logic about why a military-style process should be applied to transportation technology because it supports military needs in many areas.

"Why don't we have an equivalent interactive overview for the nation's future transportation facilities and operations supported by objective facts based analysis?" he asks. He notes that "'Blue Ribbon' Committees have dealt more with raising funds to continue more of the same roads and transit, without identifying technology driven major new systems intended to absorb inevitable growth, and reduce energy use, land use and pollution. Transportation clings to concepts 100 years or more old."

Brewer opines that national highway support comes from one agency and is unrelated to the one supporting mass transit. "Clearly there is need for coordinating investments into different modes reflecting cost effective facts based analysis taking advantage of new technologies beginning to appear."

OHIOANS, NATION WILL WAKE UP WHEN THEY LEARN THE TRUTH ABOUT HSR

In his written statement supporting Obama's plan for restoring passenger rail service, Gov. Strickland said this: "When completed, the Ohio Hub will connect Ohio communities with each other and with neighboring states, including the three federally-designated high-speed corridors that will link Cleveland and Cincinnati to Chicago, and link Cleveland and Cincinnati via Columbus."

One Ohio blogger, who notes that just when the Federal government is ready to push this green technology, the state "isn’t ready with plans to put us on the map." David Esrati writes at Dayton OS that "It’s critical for Ohio’s future to have solutions that aren’t based on cars. Right now, our elected officials should be scrambling to Washington to get our high-speed rail line on their radar."

When Ohioans know specifics related to cost and time, the "when" in Strickland's statement on the Ohio Hub Plan - a fantasy document by some accounts -- will change to "why do it" when less expensive, far faster and greener energy train technology exists now to challenge the slow train-museum plan to the past that achieves none of the goals supporters of HSR rail say are needed going forward.

John Michael Spinelli is an economic development professional, business and travel writer and former Ohio Statehouse political reporter. He is also Director of Ohio Operations for Tubular Rail Inc. To send a tip or comment, email ohionewsbureau@gmail.com

Obama Outlines Plans for High-Speed Trains

Obama Outlines Plans for High-Speed Trains

Is Rebuilding Slow Train Network Really Right for the Future?


by John Michael Spinelli

April 16, 2009

COLUMBUS, OHIO: President Barack Obama provided a broad outline Thursday to bring high-speed rail to America. Joined in Washington before his trip to Mexico by Vice President Joe Biden and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Obama called upon Americans to "make no little plans" on restoring passenger rail service and then forecasted that his commitment to fund higher speed trains will result in a "new foundation for lasting prosperity."

Mr. Biden, known for using the nation's only high-speed train in operation, Amtrak's Acela line, to commute to and from his home in Delaware to the nation's Capitol as a U.S. Senator, said his comments would be shorter than his train trip. LaHood, an Illinois Republican and former congressman, said today's announcement would not be possible but for the help of Obama and Biden, who he characterized as "two rail men" who supporters of passenger rail owe a debt of gratitude to for including high-speed rail funding in the recently passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) or the stimulus bill.

Biden said that while much attention has been placed on the recovery part of ARRA, funding for high-speed rail will focus on its reinvestment half. In that context, Obama said, "We need a smart transportation system equal to the needs of the 21st century," adding that high-speed rail will reduce traffic congestion, cut dependence on foreign oil, and improve the environment.

In a coordinated announcement yesterday covered by the Associated Press, the governors of eight Midwestern states announced that they are joining forces to "boost their chances of getting a cut of $8 billion set aside for high-speed rail." Among the mix of state chief executives was Ohio Governor Ted Strickland, who would like to see restoration of passenger train service connecting Cleveland-Columbus-Dayton-Cincinnati after 41 years of inactivity. Ohio Republicans, who control the state senate, are leary of Strickland's passenger rail plan because it relies too heavily on one-time federal stimulus bill funding and because they think ridership is not sufficient now to justify the over $1 billion in funding needed to build out the so-called 3-C Corridor route. The first passenger train is not expected to run until late 2010, and that scenario is contingent upon other factors that may or may not play out as predicted.

Even more worrisome for Strickland and his transportation department director is the report in the (Cleveland) Plain Dealer today by State Auditor Mary Taylor that Ohio's 2012-2013 biennial budget may be as much as $8 billion out of balance. Using Strickland's own revenue forecasting numbers, Taylor, the only Republican to hold statewide office, said relying on one-time federal stimulus funds to close gapping holes in the budget, as is being done for the next two-year budget, "is setting up lawmakers to raise taxes two years down the road by relying so heavily on one-time money." Funding for the slow train to the past Strickland wants to build is totally dependent upon a budget that will not be negatively impacted by state funding for restoring passenger rail service. Taylor's report shows that that scenario is a fantasy.

Saying the nation's aging infrastructure is hindering growth, Obama pointed to other countries like Spain, France and Japan where high-speed rail is a viable transportation standard. "This is not a fanciful pie in the sky vision of the future," he said, noting that its "happening elsewhere, not here." The nation's chief executive, who expressed his interest in high-speed rail during his swing through Europe recently, painted a picture of "whisking along at 100-mph" that while it sounds fast to Americans, is in reality very slow when compared to Euro-style trains that reach speeds of 200-mph or even slower when compared to Japanese magnetic levitation bullet trains that easily reach speeds exceeding 300-mph.

The president said first round funding will concentrate on improving existing lines to make trains faster, while second round funding will identify corridors for world class high-speed rail.

Reading from prepared remarks, Obama said funding will be distributed soley on merit, not political considerations. He emphasized that no funding decision have been made so far, but likely routes will be found in the Northwest, Florida, Gulf Coast states, New England, the industrial heartland centered around Chicago and California, which he said recently passed a nearly $10 billion bond package for bullet trains running between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Doing what he has done before on other topics, Obama took the arguments of his critics and provided responses to each of them. Maybe his most compelling argument was that Abraham Lincoln, while fighting a Civil War to keep the Union together, was also focused on connecting the nation from East to West and became a driver of the build-out of the first transcontinental railroad that finished after his death in Utah in 1869.

The announcement by the Midwest governors said "faster trains would include boosting regional economies, as well as reducing highway congestion and U.S. dependence on foreign oil."

As exciting as President Obama's announcement today was, the reality of the situation was expressed by Kevin Brubaker of the Environmental Law & Policy Center in Chicago, who said the $8 billion "isn't nearly enough to transform U.S. passenger service." Brubaker, who said getting eight governors to agree where to go to church is a challenge, said their joining of forces on rail, while being good news, is "not a realistic expectation right now given the federal funding."

The AP reported that authorities warned that Illinois won't get trains traveling more than 200 mph, the speed of some already in Europe and Asia. Such a system, according to the unnamed authorities, would require dedicated lines, ones with far fewer stops and without the multitude of crossing so common along U.S. railway lines.

And therein lies the rub over high-speed rail. It sounds good, but until and unless Americans are ready and willing to increase their taxes many fold, the massive funding needed to build a separate, dedicated system of tracks capable of handling Euro-speed trains, America will end up spending decades and billions rebuilding a slow system of trains that won't be profitable because ticket prices will never be high enough to cover the capital, operational and maintenance costs of these trains. And until sufficiently high speeds are achieved, such that the same journey by car can be cut in half, all taxpayers will be forced to subsidize the transportation preference of a very few travelers who can afford the cost of traveling by train.

And with estimates of a quarter million or so people joining in yesterday's so-called teabag protest parties against more government spending, it's not likely that individuals will choose to increase their tax rates to pay for high-speed rail given the staggering cost in time and money needed for this kind of transportation.

John Michael Spinelli is an economic development professional, business and travel writer and former Ohio Statehouse political reporter. He is also Director of Ohio Operations for Tubular Rail Inc. To send a tip or comment, email ohionewsbureau@gmail.com

Is Ohio Getting Railroaded by an Expensive, Slow Train to the Past?

Is Ohio Getting Railroaded by Slow, Costly Train to the Past?

Addiction to Cars, Planes, Limited Funding Obstacles to High Speed Trains, Experts Say

Opeditude by John Michael Spinelli

April 10, 2009

COLUMBUS, OHIO: A lot of digital ink has been spilled of late by Ohio's mainstream media and blogger community about whether resurrecting passenger rail service diagonally across the state is a good or bad decision. Given the state's ongoing fiscal failings, the debate about whether it will ever amount to anything more than a slow train to the past, even after a decade or more passes and over a billion in additional federal and state funding is thrown at it, is absolutely critical. But to make sense of it, facts and views other than those routinely posited by government officials is sorely needed.

I reported in early April that Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, supported by his Democratic homies and even some Republicans, agreed to retain in the recently passed $9.6 billion state Transportation Budget the expensive commitment to resume passenger rail service that will link, after 41 years of no rail cars but lots of studies, Cleveland to Cincinnati via Columbus and Dayton or the 3-C Corridor. Since then slow slow freight trains creep along the 260-mile swath of surface-grade steel rails that runs in close proximity to 5.9 million people or 60 percent of Ohio's population.

Speaking to a townhall meeting of mostly young people in Strasbourg, France, last week, President Barack Obama expressed to his audience his desire to emulate European-style high-speed trains back home. "One thing that, as an American who is proud as anybody of my country, I am always jealous about European trains," CNN reported Obama saying. "And I said to myself, why can't we have -- why can't we have high-speed rail? And so we're investing in that as well?"

Such fresh thinking on rail, when compared to the lack of same from former President George W. Bush, who showed no interest in passenger rail, has rightfully generated a runaway train of buzz. Conventional railroad advocates and special interests are actively lobbying public officials to blow their whistle for patching up an old, costly, slow system that will be even older in 2025 when outdated plans say the old system connecting major Midwestern cities including Chicago will be built out. Don't ask about cost. No one knows. But well-paid consultants are probably working on the right answers. The growing legion of supporters for the slow train to the past include the usual suspects of chambers, planning groups, corporate and community groups, who know little about railroads except that a sluice gate of federal funding is open, spewing billions for special-interest consultants to who want officials, great and small, to think their village, town or burg will some day be a stop on the high-speed rail (HSR) line.

But what's really coming down the track, unfortunately, is a slow, costly train to heartbreak city. Americans, who are not being well serviced by media that either doesn't understand the facts about rail or is to co-opted to challenge the misleading misinformation being trotted out by government spokespeople, should know that unless they are willing to increase their federal, state and local tax burden by multiples, the fantasy of whisking along at speeds nearing 200-mph as you enjoy a beverage as trains in Europe, Japan or China routinely do, will be just that -- a fantasy.

It just will not be in the cards for a state like Ohio, who may be looking at budget red ink for years to come, to deliver on what state officials routinely say is such a good business decision that taxpayers can expect to both pay a minimum of $10 million a year in public subsidy and not really ride it for maybe ten years or more. When states like California, which recently passed a $9.5 billion HSR bond issue, or Florida, which made a statewide commitment to HSR in 2000 only to reverse itself in 2004 when the bids came in twice what the public was told, show how many box cars of money will be needed to chase the European model, Ohio should perk up and take notice. If it doesn't, the light at the end of the tunnel will be that of an oncoming debt train, and Ohioans will be riding coach on it for years to come.

But while media stories about HSR and "bullet" trains abound these days, one expert says not only are European and U.S. high-speed standards different, but that the money Obama has to offer isn't enough to "build a single system, or to dramatically increase existing train speeds."

Joseph Vranich, The author of "End of the Line: Failure of Amtrak Reform and the Future of America's Passenger Trains" and a former Amtrak public affairs spokesman, says the illusion of Euro-style HSR here is a mismatch. "We're not Europe. We're not Japan. We're looking at shorter travel times, through population densities that are much higher," Vranich told the AP. While $8 billion may sound like a lot, Vranich was not optimistic. "Here's what's going to happen: The (Obama) administration will issue these funds in dribs and drabs — to this project and that project — and the result will be an Amtrak train from Chicago to St. Louis that takes maybe 15 minutes off the travel time."

Another natural supporter of passenger rail, Ross Capon of the National Association of Railroad Passengers, someone who believes that "anything is better than nothing," sees other reasons why HSR won't happen anytime soon. Capon told Deborah Hastings of the AP that Americans are wed to their cars and enjoy planes. "The reason why high-speed rail has never taken off is because this country is determined to live on cheap gasoline and airplane travel," he said, adding, "It's very likely that all of the money will go to significant improvements of existing tracks. It's not going to build bullet trains." But purpose-driven, exorbitantly expensive tracks are indeed what bullet trains need to run on.

The misleading and false notion that upgrading freight tracks to accommodate high speed trains may be behind the announcement Friday by Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-IL), who along with his state Congressional Delegation is asking the Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, another son of Illinois, to support their effort to revive the passenger rail car manufacturing industry in Illinois.

To really have a European-style high-speed train system here, a new, separate and independent system of rails must be built. That won't happen. And since the rail system we have is designed for freight, conventional trains that will run on them at conventional speeds could use American made passeenger rail cars.

According to a media release from Durbin's office, the U.S. Department of Transportation recently announced that $90.8 million in funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has been committed to rehabilitating train cars in the United States and returning them to service - the average age of an Amtrak car is now 25 years.

"It is time to establish rolling stock manufacturers here in the United States," Durbin wrote. "Although we no longer manufacture passenger rail cars in Illinois, Illinois is still home to a vibrant rail industry that has the capacity to quickly modify existing facilities to accommodate the production of passenger rail rolling stock."

Durbin believes the "time is ripe to harness Illinois' position and to capitalize on the massive new investment into intercity passenger rail. With the Department's assistance we could bring good paying jobs to the United States while advancing cleaner, cheaper and greener transportation options for Americans."

Laudable on its merits, Durbin's call to start manufacturing on rail cars in Illinois points out the unavoidable fact that the tsunami of federal dollars washing over America for rail infrastructure projects will be shipped overseas to countries like France, Germany, Spain, Canada, Japan and China, where advanced train technology is headquartered in the handful of companies who can build really fast trains. For a global scorecard of who the big players are, this Business Week article identifies the major players. One of them, Siemens, was found guilty of orchestrating a vast, global sytem of bribes that were budgeted for like any other line of expense.

Ohio transportation director Jolene Molitoris, who directed the Federal Railroad Administration as its first women administrator but who never run a railroad, testified in Washington recently along with Joe Boardman, President and CEO of Amtrak, who actually runs a railroad - Amtrak, established in 1971. Boardman testified that the train of the future must be safer, improve operations, equipment and signaling; it must uppdate our plant and be financially healthier; it must al be for the nation and the environment by being greener, reduce emissions and reduce demand for imported oil. The 3-C Corridor train Molitoris supports accomplishes none of these goals, but will cost consumer billions and take decades to fully bloom if it ever does.

In his presentation before the Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development of the Committee on Appropriations, Boardman identified six conventional railroad bridges built before the Model-T in 1908 that while still in use, will cost many billions to replace in order that conventional steel-wheel train technology can still run. Such expenditures would be obviated if an advanced train system like Tubular Rail is used, because TR technology doesn't need roads or bridges to work. Moreover, visionary, future-designed TR technology can be built in America instead of other countries like Canada or France, where key parts for the Amtrak's Acela train, the only high-speed train in America, were purchased, respectfully, from Bombardier and Alstrom.

Interviewed by ABC news, Amtrak's Boardman said, "The track that's out there today ... for most of it we can't go over 79 miles per hour." Boardman, who acknowledge that upgrading current freight-rail tracks will only permit trains traveling at 110-mph, said President Obama "is not talking about high-speed rail -- those are those bullet trains in Japan and France" and that it will take much more money than the government has allocated already to truly bring about high-speed rail.

"We are not going to see 200 miles per hour trains with an $8 billion investment," Boardman said, reported by ABC news. The Economist, in an aptly named article, "Slower than a speeding bullet," makes the same argument in correctly comparing high-speed to medium-speed trains.

Molitoris, whose claim to fame is improving Amtrak cutomer servic, continues to misguide other state officials and the general public into thinking erroneously that all high-speed standards are the same. But that's not the case. European high-speed trains run at speeds of 125-mph or more, while American high-speed starts out much lower at 90-mph. The slow, heavy train Director Molitoris gushes over will only average 57-mphs, a tortoise-like pace when compared to other technologies like Maglev, TGV or Tubular Rail.

It's not too late, thought, to stop Ohio from getting railroaded. For that to happen, Gov. Strickland and members of the General Assembly must be given a full spectrum of technology choices to choose from other than a slow train or no train. Companies with innovative ideas are out there. Not to include their potential in the debate is short sighted at best and reckless at worst. In no other industry is the status quo so fiercely defended as it is in transportation. If the average citizen, taxpayer or elected public official was given a choice between candles and electricity, hotair balloons and planes, stagecoaches and cars, galleons and cruise ships, who would choose the former? What would happen if pharmaceutical companies stopped making new drugs to cure sickness or prlong life, or Internet developers stopped developing?

Would we think that's a good thing? Hardly, so why do we say old, slow, expensive surface-level steel-rail trains is the best we can do?

Contrary to inventors and innovators who constantly look for the new, new thing, it appears some transportation officials, in Ohio and elsewhere, think early 20th century train technology is as good as it gets. If speed makes trains competitive with cars and planes, Ohio's slow train to the past is a bad alchemy of wasted dollars and time.

John Michael Spinelli is an economic development professional, business and travel writer and former Ohio Statehouse political reporter. He is also Director of Ohio Operations for Tubular Rail Inc. To send a tip or comment, email ohionewsbureau@gmail.com

Strickland, Lawmakers Climb Aboard Slow Train to the Past

Strickland, Lawmakers Climb Aboard Slow Train to the Past

New Train Technology Company Says Ohio Headed Down Wrong Track



Opeditude by John Michael Spinelli

COLUMBUS, OHIO: After weeks of political bickering over a $9.6 billion Ohio Transportation Budget that included a controversial plan to return antiquated passenger trains to the old freight rails that connect Cleveland with Cincinnati via Columbus, it appears both Democratic Governor Ted Strickland and Republican lawmakers area ready to board their slow, expensive train to the past.

The main talking point touted by government officials and their spokesmen, dutifully regurgitated without challenge by the media, was the "very rough" estimate of $250 in federal economic stimulus money to re-start the debt train to the past. The debt associated with this ill-defined, costly train is the estimated $10 million annual operating subsidy Ohio will be forced to supply for decades to come. This figure, along with the misleading statement that pricy upgrades to existing freight tracks over many years will eventually accommodate high-speed trains by 2016 at the earliest, were purposely downplayed to mainstream media sources that either didn't know the right questions to ask or were to castrated to challenge these estimates, which cannot be substantiated by any independent source even many studies undertaken over four decades.

While Republican legislators did challenge Strickland and his new transportation director, Jolene Molitoris, a former Federal Railroad Administration Administrator, on the real demand for and cost of passenger rail service and whether this is the right time to enter into such a big-ticket spending plan given the state's ailing economy and cascading budget shortfalls, the Controlling Board,a bi-partisan, bi-cameral group that approves certain state expenditures, did agreed to allow the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT), through its captive agency on rail service, The Ohio Rail Development Commission (ORDC), to contract with the Woodside Consulting Group for $450,000 (downsized from $750,000 earlier in the year) in federal funds to prepare an analysis on railroad capacity. Woodside is to submit its findings by June 30, 2009.

Published reports quoted an ODOT spokesman saying construction costs for the return of passenger rail service were "very rough" estimates (translation: we don't know but it will probably cost more) and, therefore, not listed on the re-start funding request to the Controlling Board, now controlled by Democrats.

ODOT and ORDC want to spread $21 million in consulting contracts around to 42 consulting firms during 2009. Studies generally reflect the agenda of those paying for them, so one could conclude this is merely a way to fix the facts to the misguided policy to resume old train technology.

Media reports consistently failed to inform Ohioans that another $800 million or so will be needed to make this plan work. For their financing scenario to hold water, ORDC, defending its out-dated and inaccurate Hub Plan, says 80 perent of furture costs must come from Washington. This condition is pure fantasy, given how broke Washington is and how broke Ohio is to do much more itself. One Ohio blogger, David Esrati of Dayton OS , while he didn't talk about the full costs of the train or its ongoing subsidy or the liability (indemnification of the freight railroads) the state will assume for accidents that occur between freight and passenger trains running on the same track, he did say that if they don't go as fast as the Euro-style train he rode on between Paris and Long, the "slow train might as well be no train at all." Those like Mr. Esrati and me, who have not followed in lock step with administration officials and their supporters, have had to express contrary views in different ways.

The story by AP reporter Matt Leingang that appeard in the Newark Advocate about the competition Ohio finds itself in among other states with rail service far more advanced, may cause a pause for Ohio officials who know their plan will be idled if they don't get some of the $8 billion in stimulus money for rail projects.

The AP report said Illinois wants $500 million to upgrade Amtrak's Chicago-to-St. Louis passenger service so trains can zoom at up to 110 mph. New York Gov. David Paterson wants stimulus money to upgrade crossings so some trains could go from 79 mph to 110 mph within five years. Federal standards for high speed start at 120-mph. In California, where voters in November approved borrowing $9 billion to begin building a train that can reach 220 mph, the state has outlined $2 billion in rail projects that could be started before Sept. 30, 2012, the deadline for committing the $8 billion.

Ohioans, Leingang wrote, had a chance in 1982 to raise the state sales tax 1 percent to build an $8 billion high-speed rail system modeled after those in Europe. But they turned it down.

Molitoris, the first woman to head the FRA and ODOT, showed her commitment to rail when she testified this week to a House subcommittee studying high-speed rail.

While her commitment is what the press focuses on, its the technology that's key. Which technology is chosen determines costs, times and turnout of riders. The question is not whether passenger rail should return, it should. The question is what technology are you going to use.

If Ohio chooses, as it appears it will do, an old, slow, heavy and costly surface rail system, then that will be a bad decision that will haunt Ohio for decades to come. Molitoris and Gov. Strickland should be investing in future, not past, train technology.

As the Director of Ohio Operations for a new train technology company, Tubular Rail , we believe Ohio's decision to jump aboard the slow train it seemed destined to fund is the wrong decision at the wrong time. With alternative train technologies to choose from, it's unfortunate that state officials are so stuck in the past.

The New York Times reported today that China wants to be the leader in electric vehicles. Times reporter Keith Bradsher said China is "behind the United States, Japan and other countries when it comes to making gas-powered vehicles, but by skipping the current technology, China hopes to get a jump on the next."

Ohio is curiously incurious about new transportation technology. If the pharmaceutical industry were as innovation averse as Ohio transportation officials are to new train technology, aspirin and penicillin would be the best tools we have to overcome sickness.

By choosing the old train technology it has in this Transportation Budget, Ohio will only become more uncompetitive as other states or countries, like China, want to leap frog to the future. Being a leader means going first, not waiting for the all-safe siren to sound. No guts no glory. And Ohio needs some glory these days, what with jobs tied to Detroit's Big Three hanging in the balance and Ohio manufacturers, whose ranks were thinned by nearly 27,000 jobs in 2008, need a new industry to make parts for.

Charles Kettering, the Ohioan who invented the electric car ignition and got a suburb of Dayton named after him said of where his focus is, "My interest is in the future because I am going to spend the rest of my life there." Ohio leaders should heed his call to look forward not backward. Their decision with this Transportation Budget tells tell the world Ohio would rather look to the past for inspiration than to the future where innovation resides.

John Michael Spinelli is an economic development professional, business and travel writer and former Ohio Statehouse political reporter. He is also Director of Ohio Operations for Tubular Rail Inc. To send a tip or comment, email ohionewsbureau@gmail.com

Hunting Black Swan Will Be GOP Swan Song

Black Swan Hunting Will be GOP's Swan Song

Goodwill Hunting for Obama Successes Signals GOP "Nightmare" Strategy Wrong Weapon at Wrong Time




with John Michael Spinelli

Columbus, Ohio: A Black Swan, as defined by author Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his 2007 book is "the impact of the highly improbable." Black Swans, because they are so rare, unforeseen and powerful, should command respect and not be hunted as a trophy to be mounted for display. But the GOP and its future leaders clearly want to bag and mount the head of America's first Black Swan president, Barack Obama, an African-American whose election, while highly improbable to say the least, will have an historic impact on the fate of a nation trying to surface for air from a sinking ship of state.

Changing the tone in Washington, according to Republicans and the GOP base who acted as if they were deaf, dumb and blind to the reckless presidency of their two-term leader George W. Bush, is all about letting the hounds loose to dog Mr. Obama from Inauguration Day forward, hoping to trip him up whenever and wherever possible.

The GOP, which got shellacked by voters in both 2006 and last year, signaling what some election observers see as a post-election alignment to left-of-center politics, seems poised to nominate as their next chairman of the Republican National Committee, candidates who haven't learned the lesson voters delivered to them last November and who want to double-down on failed policies that have lost support of Latinos, first-time and independent voters, not to mention African Americans and not a few Republicans who switched parties this year to again court their shrinking base of loyalists.

South Carolina GOP chair Katon Dawson says in a recent video that he will "expose at every turn what Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Harry Reid want to do to this country," in terms of "bigger government, limiting your freedoms."

Dawson pledged to become the Democratic trio's "worst nightmare" if elected to lead the GOP out of the swamp voters put them in over two election cycles.

Dawson's competitor for the post is Ken Blackwell,the former candidate for Governor of Ohio, who's running for RNC Chairman is popular among neo-conservatives but unpopular among Ohio Democrats who blame him for President winning Ohio and the White House in 2004, when he was Ohio Secretary of State. Blackwell, an African-American born in poverty in Cincinnati but who has since gained fame and fortune, makes his case that Mr. Obama's stimulus plan is nothing more than a "Trojan Horse" to create government jobs, which he says favor Democratic voters. "Creating 600,000 new jobs might help cement Virginia in the Democrat column, making it harder for Republicans to retake the White House," the Bible backing Blackwell wrote in a column at Townhall.com.

Ken Blackwell told Ben Smith of Politico that he doesn't think his uncompromising stands and lack of interest in getting along with sufficiently conservative would hurt him with the pols who compose the Republican National Committee. Blackwell, big in stature and bold in action, said he only has problems with three potential intra-party foes.

One of those three is out-going Ohio GOP Chair Bob Bennett, who did not endorse Blackwell for the national GOP post and who begrudgingly backed the Cincinnati tycoon in a lopsided loss to Ted Strickland in Ohio in 2006. Bennett, who recently retired from the Ohio GOP leadership post he's held since 1988, took a blatant swipe at Mr. Blackwell in a letter to RNC members. The letter was a reminder of how bitter the state's GOP remains over Mr. Blackwell dragging it down in a nearly historic defeat two years ago.

"As the longest serving state chairman on the Republican National Committee, I have personally witnessed many of our successes and failures. I have seen what works and what doesn't and I have recognized those chairmen whose leadership has been effective and who know how to win elections. With that in mind, I am pleased to offer my wholehearted endorsement to Mike Duncan." [Excerpt from Bennett's letter]

Bennett's successor, Kevin Dewine, 41, a four-term Ohio House member, was unanimously elected to recast his state party. "Going forward, we must be brutally honest with ourselves: The last four years have not been grand for the Grand Old Party,"DeWine said in published reports. "In many ways, the party of Lincoln too often has been divided against itself." He cautioned that a resurgence will not happen overnight and maybe not in two years. perhaps not in the next election in 2010, when he has a shot at retaking the offices of governor, attorney general and secretary of state.

As the GOP licks its wounds delivered by voters who whipped it as punishment for eight years of state and federal policies that have driven many states and the nation as a whole into a deep ditch, manifested by massive job losses, an economic meltdown of staggering proportions and unilateral decisions to start wars of political convenience that have resulted in the death of thousands of American soldiers and hundreds of thousands of dead men, women and children in Iraq and Afghanistan, the GOP will find that trying to hunt down America's first black Black Swan will backfire on them, given the hope by Americans that Mr. Obama be give ample time to undo the massive mess their leaders created.

A daily tracking poll byGallup, on the percentage of American who are confident or not confident in Mr. Obama's ability to be a good president, show those who believe he is up to the job is between 66-71 percent. An ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted recently show that 80 percent of those surveyed think Mr. Obama is handling the presidential transition well. The same poll shows that 70 percent believe Congressional Republicans will be of little help or none at all to Mr.Obama's agenda. Seventy-one percent think Mr. Obama has a mandate to work for major new social and economic programs, and should not pursue small policy changes.

With numbers like these available to them, GOP leaders, whether local, state or federal, should put down their hunting weapons, and let the political Black Swan that is Mr. Obama engage in free-range feeding and not try to shoot it on sight, thereby killing the goose they hope will lay many golden eggs.

The old, tired GOP mantra that small government, less regulation and reduced taxes is the answer to prosperity for all has been debunked from eight years under Mr. Bush and from nearly a generation of such propaganda that started with the rise of "borrow and spend" started with the Reagan Revolution of 1980.

Incoming White House chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, spoke on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday about deficit spending and how Republicans have turned on a dime from saying it doesn't matter to saying it matters. Emanuel said he finds calls now by GOP leaders and supporters, like Blackwell, Dawson or political icon Rush Limbaugh, to be super wary of spending taxpayer dollars to lift America out of the single greatest economic collapse since the Great Depression ironic. He said it comes from the same Republicans who championed such spending over the last eight years when it came from their party's president for wars and tax breaks for the rich.

What GOP leaders should be very afraid of is not Mr. Obama's $800 or more billion spending plan, but his renewed and invigorated campaign to build on the network of supporters and campaign fund contributors he built on during his two-year odyssey to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

In an email to his campaign database Saturday, three days before he takes the oath of office for President, Mr. Obama congratulated his millions of supporters for building the "largest grassroots movement in history." Mocked and derided by the GOP pick for Vice President, a Black Swan candidate in reverse, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin derided and denigrated community organizers positions without any "official responsibility." Mr. Obama's young-man job was that of a community organizer in Chicago.

Now the nation's community organizer-in-chief, with official responsibilities galore, President Obama is charged with extricating America from a deep dark hole neither Ms. Palin nor her political colleagues warned against in the first place. Mr. Obama is rallying those who brought him this far, challenging them to keep going because his movement to bring "Change we can believe in" is just starting.

In his pledge for the future video, Mr. Obama told his volunteers and supporters that they "shaped the future of this country" and told them their movement is "to important to stop growing now." He announced a new effort, "Organizing for America," a new initiative to build on campaign issues like stopping the War in Iraq, health care for all and developing new energy sources that will power the economy and protect the environment.

He said such efforts will necessarily be lead by volunteers, grassroots leaders and regular citizens. GOP leaders should heed his call for expanding and re-powering a juggernaut of organization and technology that took them to the cleaners.

If GOP leaders, elected officials and supporters think all they have to do is say "they lost their way" and want to return to core principles that put their party and its supporters first and the nation second, they will wake up again in 2010 to the news that their party, made up mostly of white, rural, fiscal and social conservatives, will be smaller and more impotent.

"What you built can't stop now," he said, adding, "Together with our partners at the Democratic National Committee and its new chairman, Governor Tim Kaine, this movement will continue organizing and bringing new people into the political process." In solemn words, Mr. Obama said the "challenges facing our country are too great, and our journey to change America is just beginning."

Obama's inaugural address will will focus on "where we are as a country and who we are as a people," according to David Axelrod, Obama's senior campaign adviser who will now advise him in the White House, speaking on ABC's Sunday show "This Week" with George Stephanopolous. Axelrod said "we're in the mess we're in" due to Republican policies that "doubled our debt in just a few years." Like Emanuel, he, too, didn't hear critics ofObama's spending plan be critical of President Bush's spending. Axelrod said Obama's plan is not just spending for the sake of spending. Instead, he said Obama's spending constitutes investments on a variety of issues, all of which will pay long-term dividends. He said they are thoughtful, not frivolous.

The Black Swan has spoken. The GOP should listen well. If they don't, their swan song will be to self-select themselves onto the endangered species of political parties.


John Michael Spinelli is an economic development professional, business and travel writer and former Ohio Statehouse political reporter. He is also Director of Ohio Operations for Tubular Rail Inc. To send a tip or comment, email ohionewsbureau@gmail.com

One Question, One Answer Revisited

One Question, One Answer

Will Bush Resign?

With John Michael Spinelli

Columbus, Ohio: On October 18, 2006 I wrote an article speculating on whether George W. Bush, the first president to use his self-defined status as a unitary executive with special powers that allowed him to violate the Constitution and international law with impunity, was really the first American tyrant to hold that high office.

My speculation on whether he and Vice President Dick Cheney would actually resign from office when the Constitution called for them to leave their executive branch positions, has been answered. Next Tuesday, a day that cannot come soon enough for some, will see President-elect Barack Obama, the first African-American candidate to be elected to gain residency to the White House, raise his right hand and take the oath of office for President of the United States. Like Bush did eight years ago, Obama will swear to abide by the provisions of the Constitution, uphold our laws and protect and defend our naton, which after eight years of Bush and company has been taken down not a few notches.

While President Bush said he will indeed exit the world stage and relinquish the once mighty role he used to unilateral scrub the world of tyranny and bring an undefined brand of freedom to everyone, even at the end of a gun, returning to Dallas to work on a book, his legacy and his library, there are many, like New York Times Paul Krugman, a long-time thorn in the side of Mr. Bush, who gives voice to a concern held by many that Mr. Obama should not forsake the past for the future. While Mr. Obama's extensive efforts to be seen as ecumenical at the start of what 53 percent of voters hope will be two terms is both laudable yet disconcerting to his Republican opponents, not looking back to the past, and Mr. Bush's many legal transgressions, because it would necessarily dredge up information some would just as well lie buried for future historians to dig up and analyze, is bad for a nation and a system of government that says no one is above the law.

"Meanwhile, about Mr. Obama: while it’s probably in his short-term political interests to forgive and forget, next week he’s going to swear to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” That’s not a conditional oath to be honored only when it’s convenient.

"And to protect and defend the Constitution, a president must do more than obey the Constitution himself; he must hold those who violate the Constitution accountable. So Mr. Obama should reconsider his apparent decision to let the previous administration get away with crime. Consequences aside, that’s not a decision he has the right to make." [Paul Krugman]

Retrieved, rewound and ready for a new read two years later, here's "One Answer, One Question."

In a world where President Bush's War in Iraq and the global War on Terror guarantee that scaremongering and military strife will dominate our lives now and into the foreseeable future, the America people deserve an answer from Mr. Bush before, not after the upcoming mid-term elections.

If the Commander-in-Chief hesitates in answering it or chooses to pull out of his bag of constitutional tricks yet another self-proclaimed, self-righteous interpretation of his presidential powers, his response will tip his hand about whether he intends to go peacefully into POTUS afterlife or become America's first tyrant.

What's the simple question Americans, democracy-fatigued at home and democracy disappointed abroad, fear to ask of Mr. Bush?

"Mr. President, you have taken a solemn oath to uphold the US Constitution. Will you step down at the end of your term?"

Tyrants and democracy, we should recall, first emerged in Ancient Greece. Leaders elected through popular support learned they could exploit public complacency and not step down from office when their terms expired.

Should a storm of such constitutional hubris be allowed to gather, then the Divided States of America will be in for the fight of its life if it is to stop Mr. Bush from converting the Office of President into a redoubt of secrets and tyranny, which he alone controls.

Recent books like Cobra II, The One Percent Doctrine, Fiasco and The Greatest Story Ever Sold, which reveal the why's and how's behind the Bush/Cheney rush to war, are starting to bubble up through the Republican Party political pack ice, which has kept America's media submerged below it since Mr. Bush first took control of the White House. The Fourth Estate's restraint in challenging Mr. Bush's pell-mell rush to war in 2002, which he repeatedly justified to prevent Saddam Hussein from bringing nuclear mushroom clouds to our shores, has now been shown by respected authors and former Bush administration officials to have emboldened Mr. Bush to demand political contrition from Republicans and Democrats alike for a war that is now careening out of control and spreading beyond Iraqi borders to countries like Lebanon.

The recent signing by Mr. Bush of a bill that gives him exclusive power to determine what is and isn't torture, thereby circumventing Geneva Conventions, and giving him and his professional torturers immunity from prosecution, is just the latet sign that Mr. Bush may pull an "October surprise," not this year but in 2008, when he tells the country that conditions are such that he cannot and will not allow a successor to undo everything he has done to make the world a more dangerous place.

Vice President Dick Cheney, speaking at a GOP congressional candidate's fundraiser, pointed to the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah as fresh evidence of the ongoing battle against terrorism and why "it is absolutely essential that we stay the course," the AP reported Cheney saying.

Bill Buckley, father of the American conservative movement, said in a CBS news article that Bush's Iraq War has failed and Bush no longer has the confidence of the nation, "If you had a European prime minister who experienced what we've experienced it would be expected that he would retire or resign."

Buckley's prediction on how a parliamentary system would handle a stubborn leader like Bush whose war policies have disaffected a majority of the country, came true recently as a member of Tony Blair's Labour government told the prime minister what many Americans would like to tell their unitary executive. A junior British cabinet member wrote in a resignation letter that "your remaining in office is not in the interest of either the party or the country."

A bi-partisan panel of The American Bar Association sounded an alarm about the extent to which Bush and Cheney have sought to extend the power of their respective offices. The ABA report said that President Bush was flouting the Constitution and undermining the rule of law by claiming the power to disregard selected provisions of bills he signed.

One wayward Republican who sees the Constitutional rapids ahead is Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. In an article posted at MyWay, Specter is clear in what he intends to do to rein in the imperial president. "We will submit legislation to the United States Senate which will...authorize the Congress to undertake judicial review of those signing statements with the view to having the president's acts declared unconstitutional."

In an April 2006 Boston Globe article on Bush's single-minded power grab, the case was made for why Bush, being neither checked or balanced by either individuals or institutions, feels emboldened to rule from his Pennsylvania Avenue fortress. "Legal scholars say the scope and aggression of Bush's assertions that he can bypass laws represent a concerted effort to expand his power at the expense of Congress, upsetting the balance between the branches of government," the article stated. Bush has repeatedly declared he does not need to "execute" a law he believes is unconstitutional, a frightening thought by any standard of democracy.

Will George Bush use the White House as his federal fortress and not return quietly to his Crawford, Texas ranch on Judgment Day, when his term-limit rapture moment arrives? Who will ask this one question?

John Michael Spinelli is an economic development professional, business and travel writer and former Ohio Statehouse political reporter. He is also Director of Ohio Operations for Tubular Rail Inc. To send a tip or comment, email ohionewsbureau@gmail.com

CrissCrossingOhio Word Puzzle

CrissCrossingOhio

Are you puzzled by government in general and Ohio government in particular? Don’t have a clue about what’s happening, what it means or who’s responsible for it?

Spinelli on Assignment is posting the January 2009 edition of CrissCrossingOhio, the Buckeye State's first and greatest people, politics and government word puzzle.

Test your knowledge of Ohio people, politics and government. Brush up on the Ohio Legislature, state agencies, politics and politicians and much more.

From today’s breaking news and the people making it to fun facts and figures that include a pinch of history and a surprise or two along the way, CrissCrossingOhio is a fun and easy way to improve your Ohio IQ. From pages and interns to elected and appointed public officials, CrissCrossingOhio is recommended for people of all ages as a way to take your Ohio I.Q of important and trivial information to a new level.

Whether you wander through the Ohio blogosphere on a regular basis or are just content to read the front page headlines of your local print newspaper, spending time with CrissCrossingOhio will improve your IQ on Ohio people, politics, politicians, the state legislature, state agencies and other noteworthy facts or figures about Ohio.

By spending just a few minutes with CrissCrossingOhio, you will sharpen your knowledge of current events and the newsmakers behind them, and boost your general understanding of Ohio through the years.

Tips for using CrissCrossing Ohio: Send it to friends, co-workers or clients. Have a contest or just use it for pop quizzes at work or home.

Spinelli on Assignment, from time to time, will feature a new CrissCrossingOhio word puzzle.

If you have a clue and an answer you'd like to submit for consideration for a future CrissCrossingOhio or you would like to sponsor a specific topic or the puzzle over a period of timie , email your name, address and phone number to me at ohionewsbureau@gmail.com

CrissCrossing Ohio is copyrighted by John Michael Spinelli and published by Spinelli on Assignment. All rights reserved.

Tin Cup Governors

Tin Cup Governors

Will Alms from Washington Be Enough?

Ohio Asks for Funding for Road, Bridge, Rail Projects

with John Michael Spinelli

Columbus, Ohio: Governors and mayors from across the nation, especially from the 44 or so states that have widening budget deficits with no shovel-ready sources of money to close those gaping gaps, are rattling their tin cups, hoping soon-to-be President-elect Barack Obama will shower them with tens of billions of federal dollars so they don't have to choose between shedding services, raising taxes or both.

The closer Obama comes to his inauguration day, the more intense will be the call for stimulus funds -- wasteful bailout funding to some, especially fiscal conservatives -- to flow like flash-flood waters to thirsty states whose budget cups are leaky and dry.

Republicans, who never batted an eye when President George W. Bush ran up record deficits to pay for expensive wars and who defined not spending massive amounts on supporting the troops as un-American and un-patriotic, have switched back to traditional anti-tax arguments.

They are warning that Obama's proposed stimulus package, designed to produce millions of jobs to replace the millions lost just this and over the course of the two terms of out-going President Bush and his tribe of fiscal and social conservatives, shouldn't be too big because it will necessarily shift the burden of repayment to future generations.

But as the debate escalates over how big the economic recovery package should be, governors of states like New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Wisconsin and Ohio, among others, are indeed the Chicken Little's of our time. Only in their version of this classic children's tale, the sky really is falling.

In Ohio, for example, a Republican-controlled state since 1992 that elected Democrats in 2006 and went for Obama last year, the projected budget deficit so far is about $7.1 billion, the greatest budget gap in history.

Strickland, Ohio's first Democratic governor since the early 1990s, said in early January that the situation facing the state of Ohio is so dire that in order to balance his state’s budget, he would have to fund every state program at 75 percent of its current level, according to Politico.com. “If I were simply to flat fund the operations of this government, I’d end up with $7.3 billion in deficit,” he said, adding, "We’re just trying to keep afloat.”

The governors have collectively requested Obama and a new expanded Democratic-led Congress for $1 trillion. Hard hit by jobs losses across the board, manna from Washington would be spent to prevent cuts in social services and education, as well as “shovel ready” infrastructure projects that could begin with 18 months, according to published reports.

In the Buckeye State, jobs numbers are grim. Numbers from the Department of Job and Family Services show that employment decreased by 26,600 jobs, while goods-producing industries were down 29,330; manufacturing was down 22,100; and construction lost 7,500 jobs. For a state that never recovered from the Bush recession of 2001, losing 95,000 in the past 12 months, pushing the unemployment rate to 7.3 percent, is shock and awe of a different kind. In some areas of the state, like Lucas County, home to Toledo, the unemployment rate is 9.5 percent. In nearby Ottawa County, it is 10.3 percent.

As dire as conditions are, Republicans are being taken to the wood shed on the efficacy of tax cuts versus direct government spending. Obama's economic team says alms for poor states pack a bigger bang when spent directly than through tax cuts, which recipients might save instead of spending.

For a state like Ohio, which experienced $1.2 billion in state budget cuts in 2008, the hundreds of millions can't arrive soon enough.

In one region, Cuyahoga County and four other northeastern Ohio counties, the cost of their proposed projects are at $197 million, published reports say. County leaders, the report says, have added tens of millions of dollars more to the list.

Howard Maier, executive director of the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, which funnels federal money to local transportation projects says, explaining the sum to a central Ohio newspaper, said: "We have to be ready the moment a stimulus package is approved." He added, "It's not just the direct jobs; suppliers are involved. There's a multiplier effect of the construction."

Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman is using the opportunity to get his push for light rail back on track. Coleman wants $200 million to build a 13-mile transit system. Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson wants $730 million to fund road and bridge projects.

But as this page has reported before, so-called "shovel-ready" projects may not be "future-ready" projects.

Which alms flow in what amounts to which states will be a fierce contest for sure. With consumer confidence just one point above an all-time low, doors will be open for the greenback cavalry when ever it arrives.

John Michael Spinelli is an economic development professional, business and travel writer and former Ohio Statehouse political reporter. He is also Director of Ohio Operations for Tubular Rail Inc. To send a tip or comment, email ohionewsbureau@gmail.com